St. Louis @ Chicago preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 21, 2019 ) St. Louis 9, Chi. Cubs 8

The Chicago Cubs signed Craig Kimbrel in early June hoping he would bolster the back of the bullpen and tilt the balance of power in the National League Central. To the Cubs' chagrin, Kimbrel's failures may have doomed their playoff hopes and handed the division title to the St. Louis Cardinals, who go for a four-game sweep of Chicago at Wrigley Field on Sunday afternoon.

Matt Carpenter hit a tiebreaking homer off Kimbrel in the 10th inning Thursday night before Yadier Molina and Paul DeJong clubbed tying and go-ahead blasts off the closer in the ninth of Saturday's 9-8 win to put St. Louis in position to clinch a postseason berth with a victory Sunday. Marcell Ozuna also went deep to move within one homer of reaching 30 for the second time in his career as the Cardinals won their fourth in a row to maintain a lead atop the division and open a six-game cushion over the Cubs. Despite pinch-hit homers from Ian Happ and Tony Kemp, Chicago lost its fifth straight game - all at home - after entering the series 6-0 at Wrigley versus St. Louis and will be eliminated from NL Central title contention with a loss Sunday. Anthony Rizzo, who was in a walking boot Wednesday, is 5-for-10 in the series for the Cubs, whose best path to the postseason will require them to overtake Milwaukee for the second wild card.

TV: 2:20 p.m. ET, TBS, FS Midwest (St. Louis), NBCS Chicago

PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Miles Mikolas (9-14, 4.29 ERA) vs. Cubs RH Yu Darvish (6-7, 4.02)

Mikolas saw his unbeaten streak end at five starts in his last trip to the mound, giving up three runs and eight hits over six innings in a 6-2 loss to the Washington Nationals. He was 2-0 with eight runs allowed in his previous four turns, which came on the heels of a three-start stretch in which he was knocked around for 16 runs and five homers. Rizzo is 6-for-17 against Mikolas, who who is winless in three starts versus the Cubs this year but has received only three runs of support.

Darvish was overpowering in his last start but wound up on the wrong end of a 4-2 decision against Cincinnati despite fanning 13 over seven innings. The 33-year-old was even more dominant in his previous turn at San Diego, recording a season-high 14 strikeouts and permitting only two hits over six scoreless innings. Darvish will be making his fourth start this season versus the Cardinals and is still in search of his first win despite giving up three runs and nine hits in the last two meetings.

WALK-OFFS

1. Molina is 6-for-13 with a homer and three RBIs in the series.

2. Cubs RF Nicholas Castellanos collected his major league-best 58th double, only the 10th time in league history a player has hit that many.

3. DeJong has hit 19 of his career-high 28 home runs on the road.

PREDICTION: Cubs 4, Cardinals 3